Rain ends England's World Cup

England's hopes of Cricket World Cup glory were dashed today as the side suffered the fallout of its refusal to play in Zimbabwe.

Rain in Bulawayo prevented the Pakistan v Zimbabwe tie from going ahead, with the two sides sharing the points. Zimbabwe's score pushed England into fourth place in the group and out of the second round.

England went out with 12 points, one place below Zimbabwe which had 14. Australia and India had already claimed two of the three qualification places.

Nasser Hussain's team was scheduled to play its first match of the tournament against Zimbabwe in the capital Harare.

But after weeks of pressure - over safety fears and concerns about the human rights record of Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe - England refused to play and forfeited the match points.